BioQuant
BioQuant, the Center for “Quantitative Analysis of Molecular and Cellular Biosystems” at Heidelberg University was established in 2007 as an interdisciplinary University research center that is solely dedicated to research and training in systems biology.
In the meantime, the center has evolved into a successful platform for the development and constant refinement of mathematical models of complex biological systems as well as the swift validation of scientific hypotheses via experimental data.
BioQuant’s remarkable architecture ideally promotes scientific communication and interdisciplinary research at the interface between mathematics, experimental life sciences, and technology development & application. Currently, 30 theoretical and experimental research groups are affiliated with BioQuant. Their research activities cover multiple aspects of systems biology and focus on cellular processes with an emphasis on medically relevant topics e.g. gene regulation & repair, cellular signaling, immune biology, cell mechanics & adhesion, and cancer biology.
BioQuant hosts several technology platforms for systematic functional & quantitative imaging and single-cell sequencing-based methods combined with extensive IT capacity.
The imaging systems range from high-resolution microscopy, high-throughput and high-content live cell imaging to cryo-electron microscopy. The NIKON Imaging Center and the Hamamatsu TIGA (Tissue Imaging and Analysis) Center are both integral parts of BioQuant`s technology platforms.
Teaching Program for Systems Biology
At Heidelberg University the entire teaching activities in systems biology are carried out in the context of the BioQuant Center.
In the international Master’s program “Molecular Biosciences” at Heidelberg University, a new major curriculum for systems biology was established in 2008. The program covers fundamental topics in bioinformatics, computational analysis, network reconstruction, and dynamic pathway analysis as well as multi-scale modeling.
Systems Biology students at Heidelberg University profit from small classes and individual mentoring. Lectures provide a theoretical foundation, tutorials teach problem-solving skills. Lab rotations as well as master´s thesis are performed within the research groups of the teaching faculty. Thus, from an early stage on, students are integrated into cutting-edge systems biology research projects.
An international student exchange program with the Universities of Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Gothenburg, Manchester, and Tokyo Medical and Dental University offers students the opportunity to gain international experience during research internships at the participating systems biology centers.
For further information and application forms visit: www.sysbio.uni-hd.de
Most recently, the Research Training Group ''Mathematical Modelling for the Quantitative Biosciences’’ has been launched at BioQuant. For the first time, Heidelberg University offers a structured curriculum in systems biology at the PhD level. This program focuses on applying modelling, analysis, and simulation methods to biological systems at different levels of abstraction-from gene regulation to cell populations.
Save the date
BioQuant Seminar
Tuesday January 25, 4 pm via Zoom - Hosted by Ilka Bischofs
(MPI for Terrestrial Microbiology Marburg)
"Engineering spatial organization in biomimetic systems"
Find out more about the upcoming talks here.
Internal Seminar
Thursday January 27, 1 pm via Zoom
Ana Luisa S. Costa
(AG Herrmann)
"Playing hide-and-seek with HIV-1 integration on immune cells"